Lead the development and delivery of the 3-year Country Plan for Saudi Arabia and an overarching strategic plan for the Gulf Cluster (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates [UAE]) ensuring they meet the required cultural relations, business and operational objectives and are appropriately aligned to the regional vision and plan, and wider corporate strategies.

Function Overview

The role provides strategic direction and leadership for the Saudi Arabia operation, ensuring that key relationships are managed effectively, and that country strategy and delivery plans are developed to meet the double bottom line of targets (impact and financial).

The role additionally provides strategic direction and leadership to the other Gulf States in the cluster (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the UAE). The post holder, as a member of the MENA Regional Executive Team, contributes to the development of regional strategy, policy and decision making.

Across the six states in the Gulf Cluster, we aim to offer a full British Council portfolio. There is a strong emphasis on English through Teaching, Exams and FCR work, a portfolio of Education projects including the International Education Service, and a growing Arts programme. Our cultural relations brokering connecting and convening work requires strong insight from our teams each country, and the role will lead on the development of this important aspect of our role with its mutual benefits for the UK and the Gulf. At present there is a grant portfolio of £4.6m including £1.6m of GPF income. Whilst not directly accountable the Teaching income for the Gulf cluster stands at £27m, while Exams will generate £46.5m.

Saudi Arabia has an increasingly high profile with our external government stakeholders in the UK as reforms impact on education and culture. It also matters as it has membership of the G20, is the world’s largest oil producer, is of significance to some 2 billion Muslims as home to Islam’s holiest sites, exerts influence within the Arab and wider Islamic world. Saudi Arabia’s commercial importance to UK cannot be underestimated. It is classified as one of the highest priority countries for the FCO and is acknowledged as the priority country for the FCO, DIT and the British Council within the Gulf.

Politically these are interesting times in Saudi Arabia. The impact of the Arab Spring was felt in the Kingdom (its official name is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [KSA]). In the period between 2011 and today old certainties have been removed. In 2016 the Crown Prince, who is also the Chairman of Economic and Development Affairs, launched Saudi Arabia Vision 2030, an ambitious plan to grow and diversify the economy, build a knowledge-based future and reduce reliance on the oil and gas sector. In parallel, aspects of social change have accelerated at a remarkable rate. Women have been allowed to drive since June 2018, public cinemas are opening (none operated for 30 years) and other forms of entertainment, including Western popular concerts are now permitted and are attracting large audiences. The younger generation of Saudis travel, study abroad, are avid users of social media and generally welcome these changes.

In Saudi Arabia almost 25% of non-oil GDP is spent on education, training and manpower, and the school, college and university sectors are growing rapidly to absorb the 60% of the population that is under 30. The role of women is changing as they take up education and work opportunities which until recently were few and far between. Education is recognised as one of the critical elements of the bilateral relationship, with major commercial significance for the UK.

Saudi Arabia is a complex operating environment. Restrictions have in the past hampered our ability to build close relations with government institutions, although this is changing under Vision 2030. Government permissions are often required and there is still segregation of sexes in most sectors. Visas for visitors and colleagues can be slow. Bureaucratic hurdles, together with the wider tension between those who support reform of Saudi Arabia’s education and the easing of cultural expression and social participation and those who do not, can make this is a difficult place to deliver cultural relations, and cultural sensitivity, persistence and strong relationship building are key

The post-holder will have a strong impact on the British Council’s reputation with our most senior target audiences and contacts in Saudi Arabia, and with high profile stakeholders in the UK. The post-holder needs to build and maintain high-profile bilateral relations, within the Saudi cultural and social context, to win and maintain their appreciation, support and advocacy of British Council work and to enable us to secure project and partnership opportunities.

The post-holder leads via a matrix a country leadership team of 8, and has oversight of the total workforce of 210 colleagues.

The Saudi Arabian political environment, the complex dynamic surrounding working with international organisations in the education and cultural fields, and the wide range of UK stakeholders mean that there is a high degree of complexity inherent in all activity.

There is however enormous opportunity to extend our impact through growth in all areas of our work.

The Gulf States Cluster is dominated by the comparative scale and influence of Saudi Arabia which is home to 60% of the Gulf States’ population. Across the region, there is an uneven spread of economic development, largely due to the distribution of oil and gas reserves.

Gulf States: key facts

High per capita GDP rates for UAE, Qatar and Kuwait due to oil and gas revenues mean high levels of development in major cities, with ambitious infrastructure upgrades in progress

Huge oil reserves and buying power for infrastructure investment in Saudi Arabia, but an uneven distribution of wealth among nationals

Relatively low levels of mineral wealth in Bahrain and Oman leading to less reliance on expatriate labour, but higher levels of civil pressure on governments and rulers

However, several critical commonalities emerge across the Gulf States: -

Large populations of young people under 25

The need to diversify economies away from a reliance on oil and gas in anticipation of a fall in demand for these commodities and/or declining reserves

High levels of unemployment among nationals relative to global levels, with employment skewed towards the public sector and an over-reliance on expatriate skilled workers. Across the Gulf, an estimated six million expatriates comprise 80% of the private sector workforce.

National drives to up-skill nationals to take on new roles in employment, including a greater emphasis on women’s education and employment

The British Council is represented in all six countries with a staff of over 600 across all operations. We have Teaching and Examinations operations in all countries, supporting the aspirations of young people to build up their qualifications for future employability. There is a strong flow of Gulf citizens to the UK for Higher Education (including 10,000 in HE from Saudi Arabia), and an increasing willingness to engage with the UK to foster greater achievements in scientific research and innovation. The UAE and Qatar especially use the Arts and leisure to enhance their reputation on the world stage, creating cultural relations opportunities. Recent changes in Saudi Arabia suggest that the arts, entertainment and creative sectors will develop there too.

About Us

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. We do this by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.

We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Each year we reach over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body.

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